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Taichi Mashima
Taichi Mashima (真島太一 Mashima Taichi) is an all-round student, gifted in both studies and sports, and one of Chihaya's childhood friends. His mother is very strict with him, telling him he should stick to activities he can win at. He is part of the Shiranami Society and is the president of the Mizusawa Karuta Club. Appearance Taichi has brown messy hair, with golden eyes. He wears his school uniform which consists of a simple white button up shirt, a plaid tie, yellow jacket with the school crest, a black belt, grey dress pants, and brown school shoes. When Taichi was younger, his hair was shorter and was less messy. He is considered handsome in general opinion. He's also popular with girls. Personality Taichi is a smart, hard-working, and athletic person and during his younger years he has been shown to get pretty cocky at times but also be a bit of a coward. He is only allowed to enter in competitions that he can win at, if he loses, he will get scolded at by his mother and despite this fact he is easy-going and fairly modest. However, Taichi is somewhat easily disheartened: he considers giving up karuta early on in the series after becoming convinced that he could spend his entire life on the game without ever becoming better than Arata. His confidence builds, however, with his continued participation in the world of karuta, and it is shown that it is his own perception of his skill in karuta that is holding him back. Taichi's maturity and loyalty are valuable assets to his friends, and he is adept - after a few initial stumbles - at saying to his teammates exactly what they need to hear in moments of stress. He is the "voice of reason" in whatever group he is in, and a wise and kind leader who is not averse to doling out some tough love (particularly with respect to Chihaya). His memory is also remarkable: he can recite the Hyakunin Isshu without visual aid, and randomise verses without doubling up. Relationships Chihaya Ayase Taichi has feelings for Chihaya, telling himself he is in love with her. They started a karuta club together. In the past it was shown that Taichi had feelings for Chihaya during grade school by often teasing her and showing feelings of jealousy whenever she was with Arata. Arata Wataya He and Arata Wataya were childhood friends. At first he didn't like Arata because he memorized the poems in his first try, also he challenged Arata again in a karuta competion and took Arata's glasses. But, instead Chihaya took Arata's place. After he admitted that he took his glasses they went to look for Chihaya. Soon after he was interested in karuta and his dream to become a master in karuta. They also teamed up with Chihaya in another karuta competion, but lost. Since Arata was sick, he lent his hat to him. Girlfriend Taichi has a unnamed girlfriend. She always calling Taichi as 'Ta-kun'. Yet, he has feelings for Chihaya despite this relationship. He breaks up with her later, over the phone, in a short, dry exchange. History Taichi used to go to the same grade school as Chihaya and was the smartest in their class. He used to tease Chihaya which lead her to attack him. They were good friends, but when Arata arrived he was embarrassed that he wasn't the only one to memorize the 100 poems. He tried to get Chihaya's attention and threatened to not be her friend anymore. Also because of this, everyone ignored her the next day for associating with him. He later challenged Arata to the karuta competition they were having at their school. On the day of the competition, his mother was there holding a camera to film him during the match as she believed he would win as usual and tried to encourage him to win. Taichi won all his matches and made it to the final against Arata. In order to win, and not get scolded, he cheats by giving Arata a shaken soda to spray him, in order to make him wash his face and take of his glasses. He steals Arata's glasses while he is washing his face and Arata only catches his small figure. Chihaya and Arata start searching for them but they don't find the glasses for Arata's match. During the match Taichi is beating Arata as he switches the cards but is then interrupted by Chihaya saying that she'll replace Arata in the match. He is eventually defeated by Chihaya and all three of them win an award. Even so, he still gets yelled by his mother and his mother tells him never to participate in a competition that he cannot win at. After the competition Chihaya is out looking for Arata's glasses. While she is away, he admits to Arata that he was the one that stole the glasses and hands them to Arata. They later go out to look and call out to Chihaya to tell her that they found them. Chihaya hears them on top of a tree and jumps down on top of them and laughs. Since then, Taichi along with Chihaya and Arata become good friends and refer to each other in first name basis. They even began to join a Competitive Karuta Club with their teacher being Harada Sensei and participate in a group competition. The three of them then go their own ways in middle school with Taichi going to far away middle school that most students found difficult to be accepted into. Synopsis Karuta Style Taichi's initial style of karuta is all brain, with little body. He makes great use of his mind in karuta matches, reasoning out probabilities and strategies completely in his head, and takes great pride in the fact that he makes few, if any, faults. He considers practicing his swing in front of others "embarrassing", which disad vantages him in the more physical aspect of karuta. However, spurred on by his desire to compete on par with Arata and Chihaya, he vastly improves in the later part of the manga. He has been called a "monster" once he has self-confidence (by Sakurazawa-sensei, coach of Fujisaki High), and it has been noted that he seems vastly stronger when Chihaya is not around (Hyoro, Chapter 93). Trivia *Taichi is good at all subjects. *When Tachi was 13, he was very jealous when Chihaya was close to Arata *Taichi made flash cards to help him memorize the 100 poems. *Taichi has recited the 100 poems in random order during a practice karuta match as the reader for it. *When Taichi was 13, his 5 year old sister Rika once asked him if he was a narcisstist. *Taichi somewhat dreams of becoming a doctor one day but isn't sure yet. *Taichi is more focused to being someone who doesn't run away rather than being in class A. *Taichi once thought that Karuta is scary while watching Chihaya play against the ex-queen. *Taichi put Arata in-charge of taking care of Chihaya after she fainted in Episode 4. *Mr. Harada calls him "eyelash,"(まつげくん) though the english subtitles always seem to mistake this. Category:Main Character Category:Male Category:Karuta Player Category:Featured Articles Category:Characters